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Reviews
From: WIRED Magazine, October 2000, p. 281
Babes in Toyland
Mark Pesce, like hypermedia’s guru Ted Nelson, is one of those fascinating
visionaries who contributes as much to the culture of imagination as to
technology itself. With The Playful World, Pesce shows how today’s digitized,
networked smart toys serve as the precursor to tomorrow’s mutable fast-forward
reality. According to Pesce, we should pay attention to nominal playthings
like Sony’s Playstation2, Lego’s programmable Mindstorm robots, and cuddly
interactive plush dolls like Furby, especially if we want to control this
future.
Pesce, creator of virtual reality modeling language, and until recently
the chair of USC’s Interactive Media Program, brought us VRML-ized Web
pages in 3-D, but he’s also been driven to evangelize for the future he
hopes ubiquitous computing, virtual reality, and nanotechnology can offer.
The Playful World is best when Pesce integrates narratives of MIT legends
such as cybernetician Norbert Weiner and nanotech pioneer K. Eric Drexler
with analyses of successful and innovative off-the-shelf toys. Mindstorm
bots, for example, derive directly from work done by Mitchell Resnick’s
lab at MIT; Resnick was mentored there by Seymour Papert; and Papert in
turn was influenced by Jean Piaget. Pesce envisions Resnick’s prototypes
and the Lego toys they spawned as a perfect training ground fore the nanotech
engineering that will inevitably flow from Drexler’s research.
It’s a book unfailingly hopeful, if not always well argued. Many of Pesce’s
biographical portraits are flat for their lack of criticism, and The Playful
World could use more structure: Digressions on everything from Tim Berners-Lee’s
invention of the Web to artist Char Davies’ VR installations to Pesce’s
own adventures in technology don’t really push the book’s provocative
thesis.
Readers unacquainted with Pesce’s mystical interests will be surprised
at the techgnostic tinge of his prognostications. In this utopian account,
toys themselves help children build perceptual schema, conceptual tools,
and even ethical values to confront a future in which objects “can be
made and unmade according to the heart’s desire.” Even if you’re not (and
I’m not) ready to accept Teilhard de Chardin’s notion of a noospheric
global consciousness, Pesce’s enthusiasm for what our children will make
of this convergent world is a millennial tonic. --Peter Lunenfeld
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From Business
2.0, October 10th, 2000, p. 303
Future
Shaping
First Furbys,
now Playstation 2 - we can predict the future by the toys that delight
our children in the present, says Mark Pesce in his latest book, The
Playful World: How Technology is Transforming our Imagination. The
co-creator of VRML argues that our thinking (shaped by Legos, Tinker Toys,
and simple microscopes) has been fettered by our limited access to data
and our passive educational methods. Interactive toys that can "learn,"
such as the Furbish-speaking gremlins, blur the line between animate and
inanimate; Sony's new console can confound reality and simulation; the
Web offers instant answers, infinite reach, and sensory input. Our kids
can program and manipulate these worlds - and they will expect to do the
same with the nonvirtual world. And we should be glad.
His "ideal
girl with her ideal toys" anecdotes are clever, but the meat of the book
lies in its many short, engaging history lessons - some are rare (the
birth of VRML), some worn but fresh in the retelling (Feynman and the
O-ring) - and its descriptions of some of this true believer's own Aha!
moments. Consider this a quick primer on AI, nanotechnology, hypertext,
MOOs, virtual reality, and digital interfaces. --Nicky Penttila
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From SALON, October 13th, 2000
Computer toy joy
A cynic might easily imagine that the timing of the publication of "The
Playful World: How Technology Is Transforming Our Imagination" is no coincidence.
Just in time for the Christmas shopping season, here's a book extolling
the joys of the newest techie toys (dedicating 10 whole pages to the wonders
of the upcoming Playstation 2) and making a serious claim that computerized
playthings will transform future generations into more empathetic, well-rounded
individuals.
But Mark Pesce's new book is far more than a cannily timed shill for the
toy industry. Pesce, the founding chair of the interactive media program
at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television,
is an eloquent geek optimist, firmly in the tradition of Buckminster Fuller,
who hopes to bestow a future of technological breakthroughs on the minds
of our children. "The Playful World" isn't a buying guide for the holidays;
it is a utopian explanation of the concepts underpinning virtual reality,
robotics and artificial intelligence that just happens to conflate cutting-edge
technology with consumer culture and offer it up as one big steaming plate
of good-for-you oatmeal.
As Pesce muses, "Today, we and our children are amazed by a synthetic
creature possessing a dim image of our own consciousness and announcing
the advent of a playful world, where the gulf between wish and reality
collapses to produce a new kind of creativity."
So despite what the book jacket blurb declares, toys are not the focus
of "The Playful World"; they are merely a jumping-off point to talk about
future technological wonders. Pesce begins with Furby and walks us through
robot toys like the Sony AiBo and the upcoming doll iBaby (which leads
into a discussion of robotics and artificial intelligence), the Lego Mindstorms
toys (which draw us into the world of nanotechnology), the Web (the notion
of databases of "collective intelligence") and video games and virtual
reality (VRML, haptic interfaces and so on).
If you're coming to this book because you think you'll learn about a lot
of whiz-bang gadgets that you can buy for your kids, you'll be disappointed:
Pesce mentions only a handful of toys that you'll find at your local high-end
K-Mart (and most of these are listed above). Instead, he focuses his energies
on fun future applications of modern technology that are only just now
emerging from the research stage: robots that are still half-assembled
at the MIT Media Lab, a Web-controlled Ouija Board, an obscure art exhibit
that lets 20 users a day "float" in a virtual reality environment. Much
of the playful world he envisions is still several decades away.
Pesce's future is decidedly utopian. He enjoys envisioning an anonymous
"millennial child," who he imagines nurturing a robot baby to adulthood,
saving the planet after playing an environmental simulation game and becoming
a molecular engineer after twiddling with a nanotechnology toy. Technological
innovations that we are still dreaming up, declares Pesce, will allow
this child to boast "creative abilities beyond any we have ever known";
will enable access to "a shared digital imagination where we can experiment
with the forms of the future." And, even more ambitiously, he believes
that those intelligent, perceptive robot buddies will "help us raise better,
more caring people from the infinite possibilties of childhood."
Even today's more modest gadgets are viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
Take, for example, the Playstation 2, a networked video game system with
impressive graphics due to debut in the United States at the end of October.
Pesce describes the console's capabilities and then effuses about its
potential influence on our psyche: "The Playstation 2 becomes more than
a toy; it becomes a window onto a wider world, a web of worlds, each more
fantastic than the one preceding it."
And you thought video games were just for blasting monsters or practicing
your kung-fu kicks? Still stinging from the accusations leveled at the
gaming industry after last year's Columbine massacres, Sony will probably
read these lines and cheer: The most expensive ad agency in the world
could not have written more glowing marketing copy.
Perhaps it's a case of overcompensation. Much of "The Playful World" seems
designed to respond to accusations that technology -- currently, video
games and the Web -- will turn our children into automatons who can't
interact with the world around them. Instead, Pesce believes, a good computer
game and, say, a personal robot will prevent future problems: He believes
future children will see the world as "potentially vital, intelligent,
and infinitely transformable." Throw away that Prozac, and just buy your
kid an iBaby instead!
Pesce's enthusiasm is infectious, even if you subscribe to a more "Matrix"-
or "Diamond Age"-like dystopian vision of the potential impact of artificial
intelligence or nanotechnology. After all, scenario building is mostly
a matter of opinion; who can say whether Pesce's cheerful playful world
will in fact be the one our grandchildren live in? Sure, robots with machine
intelligence could destroy our world, but they also could, as Pesce envisions,
"become the steadfast servants of a generation who can think locally yet
act globally."
One of the book's greatest weaknesses, however, is that Pesce refuses
to contemplate the downside of technology -- except for a momentary musing
about "gray goo" (nanobots running amok, recycling atoms until the world
as we know it disappears). Pesce doesn't ponder, for example, whether
fancy innovations will merely widen the gap between haves and have-nots.
If gadgets like nanotechnology kits or personal virtual reality machines
truly build better minds, then are the vast portions of the population
that can't afford them dooming their progeny to a lower rung on the evolutionary
ladder?
Still, Pesce pulls together his argument with an impressive amount of
research; "The Playful World" offers cogent explanations of complicated
technologies and social theories. Especially considering how far Pesce
travels -- from the genesis of the Web to the early days of artificial
intelligence to the invention of nanotechnology, not to mention theoretical
references ranging from Sherry Turkle's online research to Jean Piaget's
studies of childhood development. Pesce is a master at distilling complex
ideas down to their most important elements and explaining them in layman's
terms.
Pesce covers so much ground that there are moments when it feels as if
he is juggling too many ideas at once. But Pesce's point is that these
distinct technologies will, in fact, eventually converge. As he writes,
"the history of the playful world is a history of concrescence; seemingly
distinct advancements in artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality
and the Internet actually comprise one overarching wave of transformation,
changing what we know by transforming how we come to know it." But the
big picture that Pesce draws is actually a fragile vision built from loosely
related technological breakthroughs, some current research, a handful
of toys and art projects -- and a whole lot of imagination.
That doesn't necessarily negate his vision: His central idea, that "in
play we learn truth," is an important one that few pundits have bothered
to pen during the last decade of digital dreaming. And boy, it's a nice
one: That $30 Furby doll isn't just a nifty gadget, it could be a gateway
to a future of better children.
Truth, or fiction? Either way, $30 is a small price to pay to find out,
and your kids will probable love it regardless. Merry Christmas. -- Janelle
Brown
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From UPSIDE,
December 2000
The Evolution
of Imagination
That which
was impossible for our grandparents to comprehend is now reality. What
seems unfathomable to us will be matter-of-fact for our grandchildren.
Millenial children will grow up naturally with devices that startle us
in their complexity, causing them to inhabit a different world from ours.
This captivating new book by Mark Pesce explores the knowledge, skills
and capabilities of human intelligence that are transforming our culture
forever, beginning with a journey through the world of interactive Web-based
toys - the Furby, Lego Mindstorms (evolved from the solid bricks many
of us snapped together as children) that process data and control motors,
and the Sony Playstation2, which brings synthetic worlds into the home.
These toys, which listen and respond to children's needs, are shaping
a new reality, a "playful" world in which we will all be able
to program, manipulate and transform the material. The children who play
with them will become the translators of a new set of truths into new
cultural values.
Enter the realm of nanobots examining the molecular detail of a cell from
the inside and nanosurgeons reparing diseased cells. Or explore the virtual
landscape of artist Char Davies' "Osmose," where participants
(donning head-mounted display units and chest-measuring devices permitting
them to navigate by inhaling or exhaling) float weightless through a world
of natural forms such as trees and clouds. Such technologies, Pesce says,
offer a flexible universe as programmable and configurable as Lego bricks.
The newly invented reality they represent will be entirely natural to
those who grow up "playing" in it.
When we alter the way we see, hear and touch the world, we alter ourselves.
If you want a preview of the coming world and its humanity, read this
intriguinig new book. -- Meredith Trueblood
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From Library
Journal, October 2000
Pesce, the creator of VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), which
distributes three-dimensional scenes on the web, here takes us on an extended
romp through topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology,
the World Wide Web, and Furbys. He uses examples of interactive toys such
as the Furby, Sony Playstation, and LEGO Mindstorms to show how these
toys express both our imagination and our technology. According to Pesce,
21st-century toys do not only reflect our imaginative world; as they become
increasingly interactive, they will also help shape our conceptions (but
especially our children's conceptions). Pesce posits that the imaginative,
flexible, and playful nature that interactive toys encourage will help
us avoid the dangers posed by misuse of the very technologies used to
create them. His unique focus on understanding our technological future
through play makes this book stand out in a crowded field. Pesce's ability
to explain complex issues clearly only bolsters his case, as he brings
in evidence from a variety of arenas to show how the unprecedented interactivity
of future toys will change the way our children think about the world.
Recommended for all libraries. [An accompanying web site, www.playfulworld.com,
offers extensive links to news articles, videocassettes, and other research
materials discussed in the book.--Ed.] --Rachel Singer Gordon, Franklin
Park P.L., IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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From
Amazon.com, September 2000
Are Furbies avatars of future pets? Mark Pesce, Chair of USC's Interactive
Media Program and creator of VRML, thinks that technological development
and recreational activity inform each other and are converging into a
strange, new immersive environment. The Playful World: Interactive Toys
and the Future of Imagination is a thoughtful peek into the guts of such
toys as LEGO's Mindstorms and Sony's PlayStation2; by extrapolation, Pesce
sees them driving research in nanotechnology and virtual reality, but
he nobly refuses to succumb to the temptation to make precise predictions.
Taking a look at the history of play (and taking care to knock down whatever
remaining resistance we might have to considering play less worthwhile
than other activities), the book shows it to be a form of learning--perhaps
the most natural form. Toy technology is catching up with current research
rapidly; more households have powerful computers playing "Crazy Taxi"
with the kids than working on budgets with parents. The presumption that
we are creating new ways of learning, knowing, and being that are rapidly
overtaking our means to understand and control them could be frightening
if explored by an author less familiar with the technology and its users.
Instead of thinking "game over," Pesce believes we should get ready to
"play again." --Rob Lightner
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